The Missouri Western women’s golf team sits in 5th place (331) after round one of the Northwest Missouri State University Bearcat Fall Invite which is being played at Mozingo Lake Golf Course.

The Griffons are 13 strokes out of first place as Bellevue University leads the nine team field with a 317. They are two strokes ahaed of host Northwest Missouri State who fired 319 in the opening round.

Western is led by sophomore Amber Chivington as she sits in seventh with a 78. Senior Shelby Stone had her best round of the fall with an 83 while Callie Wilson, Madison Romjue and Anna Kloeppel finished with 84, 85 and 86 respectively. Senior Darcy Smith is playing as an individual. She sits in 9th with an 80.

Renee Santoyo leads the event with a opening round 75. She is one stroke ahead of teammate Maria Saavedra and Northwest Missouri State’s Kritina D’Angela.

The final round of the event will be played Tuesday.

— MWSU Sports Information —

The Missouri Western men’s golf team sits in 14th place after day one of the UCM Heart of American Invitational firing a two round 601 (302-299).

There are 20 teams in the invite with host school Central Missouri leading the way with a 578 (295-283). The Mules lead Arkansas Tech by four strokes and Nebraska-Kearney by seven.

The Griffons are led by Scott Sheldon and James O’Brien as they both fired 148 (75-73) putting them in a tie for 27th. Derek Hawksin fired a 151 (75-76) while Evan McCarthy and Tyler Gast fired 154 (77-77) and 160 (81-79) respectively.

Cy Moritz of Central Missouri leads the field with a 140 (74-66) while Lance Lawson of Nebraska-Kearney is one stroke back with a 141 (71-70).

The final round of the event will be played on Tuesday.

— MWSU Sports Information —

The Missouri Western soccer team played hard but gave up a second half goal falling 1-0 against the Northeastern State University RiverHawks on Sunday afternoon. The Griffons had seven shots with Bailey Dervin leading the charge with three. MWSU falls to 2-8-1 overall and 0-4 in MIAA play.

Despite getting out shot 15-2 in the first half Sarah Lyle and the Griffons were able to go into halftime tied at zero. Lyle had eight saves in the half.

In the second half the Griffons had more offense but still got out shot 8-5. In the 78th minute the RiverHawks Elizabeth Cudjoe scored her fifth goal of the season on a penalty kick. With the victory Northeastern State improves to 8-2 overall and 2-2 in MIAA play.

In the game the RiverHawks out shot MWSU 23-7 with an 11-3 advantage in shots on goal. Cudjoe had five shots with two on goal.

The Griffons return to action on Friday, October 11 with a home contest against the Washburn Ichabods. Game time is set for 7:00 pm in Spratt Stadium.

— MWSU Sports Information —

Sixth ranked Missouri Western outscored Central Oklahoma in every quarter as the Grirffons defeated the Bronchos 63-30 and won their eighth straight conference game Saturday night. With the win the Griffons improve to 5-0 (4-0 MIAA).

Just like the week prior, the Griffons fell behind 7-0 after the first drive. Bronchos’ running back Adrian Nelson dove into the end zone on a 1-yard run to take a one-touchdown lead with 12:49 to play. Five minutes later, the Griffons tied the game.

Travis Partridge rushed for his first of four touchdowns on the night to tie the game. Partridge’s four rushing scores was one shy of the single-game record. Dalton Krysa gave the Griffons the lead on their next drive after his 13-yard scamper moved Missouri Western to a 14-7 lead. The score came just 38 seconds after the Griffons tied the game thanks to Austin Baska’s interception.

Nelson shook off his early turnover and scored on a 7-yard run to tie the game at 14. Raphael Spencer sped in for an 11-yard score minutes later to end the first quarter with the Griffons ahead 21-14.

After a Broncho field goal from kicker Seth Hiddink, Krysa dove inside for a 1-yard score to put the Girffons ahead 28-17. The first touchdown that wasn’t on the ground came with 10 seconds to play in the half. Partridge found Josh Walker in the end zone on a 7-yard pass as Missouri Western went into halftime with a 35-17 lead.

In the third quarter, Partridge broke open the game even more with another touchdown run. Central Oklahoma answered with two more field goals to bring the game to 42-23.

Two more touchdowns runs by Partridge were intertwined with two return touchdowns as the game continued in the fourth quarter.

Marquez Clark’s 60-yarder came after Partridge ran a 5-yard touchdown to mark the game 49-30.

Partridge added his fourth score on a 1-yarder followed by Derek Libby’s 79-yard punt return to end the game with the Griffons winning 63-30. It was the second time this season the Griffons put up 63 points. The Griffons defeated Missouri S&T on Sept. 14 63-3.

In the past four weeks, the Griffons have averaged just more than 52 points compared to giving up just 18.

Partridge finished 17 of 27 with 203 yards and one touchdown and one interception. He also had 39 yards on the ground to go with his four rushing touchdowns. Spencer finished with 221 yards on the ground on 24 attempts for a 9.2 yards per carry average. Spencer also led the team with four catches for 41 yards.

Krysa added nine carries for 51 yards and his two touchdowns.

The Griffons continue MIAA play next week at Spratt Stadium against Northeastern State. Kickoff is set for 1:30 p.m as the Griffons take on the RiverHawks in their homecoming matchup.

— MWSU Sports Information —

The Missouri Western volleyball team dropped three straight sets in their loss to Southwest Baptist Saturday evening.

The loss comes one day after the Griffons defeated Missouri Southern on the road in five sets. The Griffons sit at 4-3 in the conference and 6-10 overall.

After dropping the first two games 25-17, the Griffons came close to claiming set three. After a back-and-fourth match, the two teams set tied at 10 before the Griffons pulled out three straight points. Baptist came back and took a 21-19 lead later on in the set. After a kill by Kelly Scannell and two straight by Kelsey Olion, the Griffons again took the lead. They couldn’t hold on, however, and the Bearcats took the final set 26-24 and grabbed the win.

Erin Backhuus led the team with nine kills. Olion was right behind her with eight. Scannell had a team-high 23 assists. The team had 66 total digs, with Erica Rottinghaus producing 15 for a team high.

Baptist improves to 10-5 and 3-3 in the conference. Missouri Western returns to action Tuesday night against Emporia. The match will start at 7 p.m. at MWSU Fieldhouse.

— MWSU Sports Information —

The Missouri Western volleyball team picked up a thrilling five set victory over the Missouri Southern Lions on Friday evening. The Griffons had three players in double digit kills with Erica Rottinghaus leading the way tying her season best 18 kills. The Griffons improve to 6-9 overall and 4-2 in MIAA play.

The Griffons opened up the the match on fire winning the first set 25-15. The Griffons had 12 kills in the set hitting .240. In set two the Lions took control early evening the set at one with a 25-18 victory.

In set three thre Griffons looked to be in command taking a 20-13 lead. The Lions stormed back but the Griffons were able to get the 31-29 victory taking a 2-1 lead in the match. Once again the Lions battled back eaving the match at two after a 25-23 victory in set four.

In the fifth and deciding set the Griffons took command early cruising to a 15-6 victory. Jessie Thorup and Kelsey Olion both had 12 kills while Jordan Chohon had 28 set assists. Sarah Faubel had 23 digs while Holley Pollock picthed in 10.

The Lions fall to 3-10 overall and 0-5 in MIAA play. Katie Politte had 17 kills while Abby Finder had 38 set assists. Sydney Wheeler and Politte both had 13 digs in the match.

The Griffons return to action on Saturday, October 5 with a 6:00 pm against Southwest Baptist in Bolivar, Mo.

— MWSU Sports Information —

The Missouri Western soccer team struggled in the second half against Central Oklahoma giving up four goals in a 4-0 defeat. The Griffons fall to 2-7-1 overall and 0-3 in MIAA play.

The two teams played the first half to a 0-0 tie. The Griffons took five shots with four being on goal while the Bronchos took nine shots with four on goal.

UCO dominated the second half breaking the scoreless tie in the 47th minute when Kenna Dyess took an assist from Emily Hahn and beat Sarah Lyle over her head. The Bronchos kept up the pressure and at the 64:35 mark Sarah Purcell took an assist from Kate Foran putting a shot in the back of the net giving UCO the 2-0 lead.

The Bronchos scored the third and four goals in the 72nd and 88th minutes respectively. Kimberly Linder scored her first of the season while Purcell scored her second of the game and fourth of the season. The Bronchos improve to 4-5-1 overall and 1-1-1 in MIAA play.

Teddi Serna had two shots for the Griffons while Sarah Lyle made seven saves.

UCO had 25 shots with 16 coming in the second half. They also had 13 shots on goal and 12 corner kicks.

The Griffons return to action on Sunday, October 6 when they travel to Tahlequah, Okla. to take on the Northeastern State RiverHawks. Game time is set for 1:00 pm.

— MWSU Sports Information —

After winning the first set against the 18th ranked Truman State Bulldogs, the Missouri Western volleyball team fell in the next three sets falling 3-1 (20-25, 25-18, 25-18, 28-26). Jessie Thorup led the charge with 14 kills as the Griffons fall to 5-9 on the season.

Things did not look good for Missouri Western as they got down 6-0 against the Bulldogs in set one. The Griffons stayed poised going on a 7-0 run using the serve of Erin Backhuus taking their first lead of the set at 10-9 after a second ace from Backhuus. From there the Griffons dominated the match outscoring the Bulldogs 15-11 taking set one 25-20. The Griffons hit .242 in the set with Erica Rottinghaus getting four kills.

The Bulldogs evened the match taking the second set 25-18. The Bulldogs hit .346 in the set with Allie Brak leading the way with four kills in the set. Missouri Western hit .161 in the set with Amanda Boender getting four kills.

After two sets the Griffons were hitting .203 with Rottinghaus leading the way with seven kills. Jordan Chohon and Kelly Scannell both had ten set assists while Rottinghaus had six digs.

In set three Missouri Western got down early once again and could not come back falling 25-18. In set four the Griffons got down 16-11 before the stormed back going on a 12-5 run taking a 23-21 lead after a back-to-back kills by Thorup. The Bulldogs responded closing the match on a 7-3 run winning the set 28-26 and improving to 9-5 on the season with the victory.

Missouri Western hit .215 in the match with Rottinghaus finishing with 11 kills and Olion collecting 10. Chohon finished with 21 set assists while Faubel had had 14 digs.

The Bulldogs were led by Abby Heise and Allie Brak as they both had 14 kills. Meghan Zimmerman finished with 46 set assists while Heather Hargadine and Lauren Radix had 10 digs apiece.

The Griffons return to action on Friday, October 4 when they take on the Missouri Southern Lions in Joplin, Mo. Game time is set for 7:00 pm.

— MWSU Sports Information —